The University of Houston men's basketball team will be looking for their first win in five games when the Cougars play host to cross-town rival Texas Southern in a non-conference game on December 23, 2000.

Houston enters the game with a 2-6 overall record after dropping a 71-60 decision against Texas last Wednesday night. Houston's other three losses were against SMU, 16th-ranked Connecticut and LSU.

Meanwhile, Texas Southern is looking for its first win of the season after the Tigers suffered an 83-64 loss at Louisiana Tech on December 21. TSU is 0-9 entering Saturday night's game.

Series
Houston and Texas Southern will meet for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons. Ironically, it will mark the first time the two schools have played each other in the city of Houston since 1990.

Houston won a 74-70 decision last year in the consolation game of the Hawkeye Challenge in Iowa City, Iowa.

Houston suffered an 85-69 loss in the consolation game of the Nike Festival on December 20, 1997 at Honolulu, Hawaii.

The two teams met for the first time on December 15, 1990 in Hofheinz Pavilion when the Cougars won a 90-78 victory.

Coaches
Ray McCallum is in his first season as the head coach at the University of Houston and enters the Texas Southern game with a 128-82 career record. McCallum, who is in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach, has a 2-6 record this season at Houston after compiling a 126-76 mark in seven seasons at Ball State.

His .624 winning percentage at Ball State ranked as the fourth-best overall percentage in the history of the Mid-America Conference. He also was the only coach in Ball State history to lead the Cardinals to seven straight winning seasons and his 126 victories ranked second on the school's all-time victories list.

He led the Cardinals to two MAC Tournament championships (1995 and 2000) and two first place ties in the MAC's Western Division (1995 and 1998). McCallum guided Ball State to two NCAA Tournament berths (1995 and 2000) and one NIT appearance (1998).

Robert Moreland is in his 26th season as the head coach at Texas Southern. He has compiled a 392-367 record at TSU and is the school's all-time winningest coach. Moreland is in his 35th season as a collegiate head coach and enters tonight's game with a 665-416 career record. During that span, his teams have won20 games in 16 seasons, including six at TSU.

Moreland began his collegiate coaching career at Utica Junior College in Mississippi, and led the school to 10 consecutive 20-win seasons, including one 30-win campaign when Utica finished third in at the NJCAA National Tournament.

Game Coverage

Radio
The Houston-Texas Southern game will be broadcast throughout the Houston area on KUHF radio (88.7 FM). Craig Ackerman will call the play-by-play and Carl Dukes provides color commentary.

What's Next
Following the Texas Southern game, Houston travels to El Paso, Texas for the Sierra Providence Sun Carnival Classic on December 27-28. The Cougars will meet Southeast Missouri State in the first round of the tournament. The other first round game pits the host school, Texas-El Paso, against Jackson State.

Following the tournament, Cougars return home and close out their non-conference schedule against Georgetown on December 31. The Georgetown game tips off at 2:00 p.m.